Failures uncovered can't be fixed by these councillors: CCC

Hayden started in 2013 as a cadet journalist on the Fraser Coast Chronicle before relocating to Fairfax Media in Tasmania three years later. Hayden joined the Queensland Times in November 2017 as a political journalist with a focus on Ipswich City Council. He has covered two state and one federal budget.

It prompted the council to claim Mr MacSporran's reputation was on the line, question his interests and link to the Palaszczuk Government.

The chair of the anti-corruption body slammed the council and said its problems could not be fixed under the existing administration.

"The investigation has identified significant governance failures and cultural issues that appear to have been occurring over many years," Mr MacSporran said.

"A number of these failures do not reach the threshold of corrupt conduct or the investigation to date has not identified sufficient evidence to pursue these criminally.

"The investigation has confirmed these governance failures are significant and extremely concerning."

Mr MacSporran said many of the councillors and senior staff held positions at the council for a long time.

"They may not have been aware of the extent of some practices but if they were operating in an environment in which transparency, accountability and good governance were paramount, many of the poor practices would not have continued," he said.

"Based on the investigation to date and the practices the CCC has uncovered, I do not have confidence the current council is equipped to change the culture and adequately address the systemic issues and this is what I have communicated to the Local Government Minister."

Mr MacSporran said the CCC had not consulted with the minister or State Government "about who or when to charge individuals".

"These decisions are always made independently by the CCC based on evidence we collect from our own investigations," he said.

"The CCC's independence is at the core of everything this agency does and the decisions we make."

Mr Hinchliffe advised Mr MacSporran about how the government intended to dismiss the council.

"The Minister advised me of the decision to ensure it would have no adverse impact on our ongoing investigation into Ipswich City Council," Mr MacSporran said.

"When I was informed of the decision to remove the Council, I told the Minister that I supported removing Ipswich City Council for the reasons explained."

He said the CCC was preparing a public report "to discuss the cultural and systemic issues we have uncovered throughout the investigation and to provide practical recommendations which will prevent further corruption from occurring in the local government sector in Queensland".